Charged particle beam apparatus

ABSTRACT

A charged particle beam apparatus having an aberration correction capability at high acceleration voltages. The charged particle beam apparatus comprises a charged particle beam source; an extraction electrode to extract charged particles from the charged particle beam source; a charged particle beam gun including a means for converging a charged particle beam; an acceleration means for accelerating a charged particle beam emitted from the charged particle beam gun; and an aberration correction means disposed between the charged particle beam gun and the acceleration means, in which an aberration enough to cancel out an aberration of a charged particle beam on the specimen surface is provided to an extraction electrical potential or an equivalent beam at the initial acceleration stage.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

The present application claims priority from U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/335,518, filed Jan. 20, 2006, which claims priority fromJapanese application JP 2005-028372 filed on Feb. 4, 2005, the contentsof which are herein incorporated by reference into this application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a charged particle apparatus, and morespecifically to a scanning electron microscope, scanning transmissionelectron microscope, electron beam semiconductor inspection apparatus,electron beam semiconductor measurement apparatus, converging ion beamapparatus, and the like, all of which scan a specimen by converging acharged particle beam on the specimen.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Since a scanning electron microscope (SEM), which scans the surface of aspecimen with a narrowly focused electron beam, detects generatedsecondary electrons with a secondary electron detector, and displays adetected signal as a change in luminance on a TV monitor, allowsobservation of an object surface at a higher resolution than with anoptical microscope, it is widely used for the measurement of the lengthand/or observation of foreign materials for the semiconductor waferpattern that has been further microminiaturized in recent years, as wellas for academic research. For the inspection of a semiconductor, therecent demand is for a high resolution of a few nanometers at which amaterial to be inspected can be observed at acceleration voltages of 1kV or less, without damaging the material. The resolution of SEMsdepends on how narrowly the electron beam can be focused on thespecimen. The parameters affecting the diameter of an electron beaminclude, for example, magnitude of an electron source, variations in theenergy of an incident electron beam, convergent angle, chromaticaberration of an objective lens, spherical aberration, and diffractionaberration. Conventionally, higher resolutions have been achieved byingenuities in the electron optical system, particularly, lowering thereduction rate by increasing the reduction rate of an electron sourceand combining acceleration electric field and deceleration electricfield to optimize the shape of the objective lens. However, it isbecoming difficult to increase the resolution of SEMs only by optimizingthe lens system.

There is an aberration corrector as a device to eliminate the chromaticaberration and spherical aberration. A basic configuration of thisdevice is described in a paper of Zach (J. Zach and M. Haider, NuclearInstruments and Methods in Physics Research A363 (1995) pp. 316-325),and other configurations are in the papers of Haider (M. Haider, G.Braunshausen, and E. Schwan, Optik 99 (1995) pp. 167-179), Krivanek (o.L. Krivanek, N. Dellby, A. R. Lupini, Ultramicroscopy 78 (1999) pp.1-11), and others. The aberration corrector of Zach has functions tocorrect spherical aberration and chromatic aberration, and comprisesfour stages of electrostatic quadrupole element, magnetic quadrupoleelement, and electrostatic octupole element disposed along and about theoptical axis. By varying the ratio of intensity of excitation to theelectrostatic quadrupole element and magnetic quadrupole element, andelectrostatic quadrupole element and magnetic quadrupole element, thetrajectory of an electron beam passing on the optical axis can be variedin the x-direction or y-direction independently.

The aberration corrector described in the paper of Haider et al. (M.Haider, G. Braunshausen, and E. Schwan, Optik 99 (1995) pp. 167-179) isa corrector to correct the spherical aberration of the objective lens ofa transmission electron microscope (TEM), and comprises a combination oftwo magnetic field 6-polar elements and two sets of doublet lenses.

The aberration corrector described in the paper of Krivanek at el. (o.L. Krivanek, N. Dellby, A. R. Lupini, Ultramicroscopy 78 (1999) pp.1-11) is a corrector to correct the spherical aberration of a scanningtransmission electron microscope (STEM), and comprises a combination offour magnetic quadrupole elements and three magnetic octupole elements.This spherical aberration corrector for STEM can be considered basicallyZach's quadrupole-octupole type aberration corrector in which all ofquadrupole and octupole elements are magnetic type.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,340 discloses a charged particle-based apparatusprovided with an automated aberration correcting function.

In addition, JP-A 351561/2001 discloses an invention that employs anaberration corrector in the ion beam irradiation system of an FIBprocessing apparatus. Since the ion beam has larger mass and higherenergy than the electron beam, according to the invention disclosed inJP-A No. 351561/2001, the aberration correction is achieved bydecelerating an ion beam generated in the ion source after acceleratingit, and providing an aberration corrector in the deceleration space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The prior arts and inventions described in the above documents arehardly practical.

The aberration correction method (J. Zach and M. Haider, NuclearInstruments and Methods in Physics Research A363 (1995) pp. 316-325)allows both of spherical aberration and chromatic aberrationtheoretically, but is not practical in the case of the aberrationcorrection for electron beams with a large acceleration energy. That is,in the Zach's method, when acceleration energy is increased, it isnecessary to extend the aberration corrector in proportional to theacceleration voltage, narrow the bore radius of a quadrupole element inproportion to a square root of the acceleration voltage, or increase theelectrode voltage of quadrupole elements in proportion to theacceleration voltage, thus making this method impractical in terms ofthe manufacturing cost taking into consideration the upper limit ofsupply voltages, withstand voltage of multi-polar elements, andfabrication, or the design dimension of the SEM. An SEM with chromaticaberration at an acceleration voltage of 8 keV is described in J. Zachand M. Haider, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A363(1995) pp. 316-325, but the maximum acceleration voltage of a standardgeneral-purpose SEM is generally about 30 kV. If acceleration voltagebecomes around 10 kV or greater in the Zach's method, it may beeffectively difficult to manufacture the SEM.

In the Krivanek's methods (U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,340 and O. L. Krivanek,N. Dellby, A. R. Lupini, Ultramicroscopy 78 (1999) pp. 1-1), thechromatic aberration corrector composed only of magnetic fieldmulti-polar elements are used in order to accommodate high energy.However, these methods allow the correction of spherical aberration, buttotal chromatic aberration will increase.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to realize a chargedparticle optical system, a charged particle gun, and a charged particlebeam-based apparatus, all of which allow aberration correction.

The above problems with prior arts can be solved by performing anaberration correction at a stage before a charged particle beamgenerated in the charged particle beam source is highly accelerated,i.e., at an initial stage where the energy of the charged particle beamis relatively low. An example of initial acceleration stage is a stagewhere the potential of a charged particle beam is equal to or almostequal to that of the extraction electrode (extraction potential). When acharged particle beam is accelerated at several stages after providingthe extraction potential, the aberration correction may be performed atinitial few stages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a charged particle beam-based apparatusaccording to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a scanning transmission electronmicroscope according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a configuration of an electron gun according to athird embodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates a configuration of an electron gun according to afourth embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows a configuration of an electron gun according to a fifthembodiment;

FIG. 6 shows a configuration of a convergent ion beam apparatusaccording to a sixth embodiment; and

FIG. 7 is an operational diagram of an aberration corrector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

Preferred embodiments of a scanning electron microscope are describedbelow with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an entireconfiguration of a scanning electron microscope. A Schottky electronsource 1 is an electron source that utilizes the Schottky effect byspreading oxygen and zirconium in a single crystal of tungsten, and nearthe Schottky electron source is provided a suppressor electrode 2. Amagnetic lens 3 is disposed in the vicinity of this electron source. Theupper magnetic pole of this magnetic lens 3 doubles as an extractionelectrode.

The magnetic lens 3 is unnecessary in principle, but it is better toprovide this lens for adjustment of virtual source position (objectpoint with respect to an aberration corrector 5). Without the effect ofthe magnetic lens 3, the virtual source position as seen from theaberration corrector 5 side of an extracted beam from the Schottkyelectron source 1 at extraction voltage V₁ would be several centimeterabove the electron source. If the virtual source position is fixed withrespect to the aberration corrector 5, it is impossible to adjustmentthe aberration correction conditions in response to changes in the focalpoint of a condenser lens/objective lens, changes in accelerationvoltage, and the like, and therefore it is advantageous to have afunction of adjusting virtual source position for operational reasons.

Heating the Schottky electron source 1 up to approximately 1800K (aheating power supply is not shown), and applying a voltage V₁ ofapproximately +2 kV across the electron source and the magnetic lens 3from an extraction power supply 22, causes Schottky electrons to beemitted. A suppressor negative voltage is applied to the suppressorelectrode 2 to suppress electrons emitted from other than the tip of theSchottky electron source 1. Electrons reduced to a required amount by anaperture 4 disposed at the lower magnetic pole of the magnetic lens, areincident on the aberration corrector 5 that is mounted such that it isintegral with the magnetic lens 3. The magnetic lens 3 and theaberration corrector 5 are joined with a coupling means such as screws(not shown). The magnetic lens 3 and the aberration corrector 5 may beformed integrally from the start, but it is better to manufacture themseparately and then assemble them so that the assembly process ofelectron guns is facilitated.

The aberration corrector 5 performs an aberration correction on incidentelectrons. The operation of the aberration corrector according to thisembodiment is described here with reference to FIG. 7. The aberrationcorrector 5 comprises four stages of electrostatic quadrupole elements91, 92, 93, 94; magnetic quadrupole elements 95, 96 that are almostanalogous with the electrical potential distribution formed by theelectrostatic quadrupole elements 92, 93 and form a magnetic potentialdistribution rotated by 45 degrees about optical axis; and electrostaticoctupole elements 97, 98, 99, 100. In the figure, a number is given toeach stage. This means that an electrical potential by the electrostaticquadrupole lens and an electrical potential by the electrostaticoctupole element are overlapped at first and fourth stages. Similarly,electrical potentials by the electrostatic quadrupole lens andelectrostatic octupole element and a magnetic potential by the magneticquadrupole lens rotated by 45 degrees about optical axis. Theseelectrical potential distribution and magnetic potential distributioncan be formed by using four stages of twelve pole elements. If thetwelve pole elements at second and third stages are formed with a metalwith high-permeability, a magnetic potential distribution almostanalogous with an electrical potential distribution can be formed.

In the aberration corrector 5, due to the field of the quadrupoleelement, convergent and divergent actions are produced in each of thetwo directions (x axis and y axis) perpendicular to the optical axis (zaxis) to separate the paraxial trajectory. In FIG. 7, the trajectory ofa charged particle beam is schematically represented by the thin lines.The charged particle beam is diverged on the x direction trajectory (xtrajectory, shown by a single arrow in the figure), and converged on they direction trajectory (y trajectory, shown by a double arrow), by theelectrostatic quadrupole element 91 at first stage of the aberrationcorrector 5, to separate. A trajectory in an arbitrary direction can beconsidered as a linear combination of these x and y trajectories. Atsecond stage, a quadrupole electrical potential by the electrostaticquadrupole element 92 and a quadrupole magnetic potential rotated aboutthe optical axis by 45 degrees in the x-y plane with respect to thequadrupole electrical potential by the magnetic quadrupole elements 95are overlapped. The electrostatic quadrupole element 91 at first stageis excited such that the y trajectory crosses with the optical axisaround the center of the electrostatic quadrupole element 92. At thistime, the x trajectory is off-axis at a maximum, and a linear crossover120 extending in the x direction is formed at around the center of theelectrostatic quadrupole element 92.

The excitation of the electrostatic quadrupole element 92 and magneticquadrupole element 95 is adjusted so that the x trajectory crosses theoptical axis at around the center of the electrostatic quadrupoleelement 93 at third stage. The line crossover 121 at this time forms aline extending in the y direction. The x and y trajectories separatedfrom each other through the electrostatic quadrupole element at fourthstage, meet at the crossover 122. At this time, in the aberrationcorrector 5, it is possible to excite the electrostatic quadrupoleelement 92 and magnetic quadrupole element 95 by changing the intensityratio of electrostatic and magnetic quadrupole elements, under thecondition of constraint that a resultant force exerted on an incidentcharged particle having a reference energy is not caused to change.Then, since a charged particle having an energy different from thereference is different from a charged particle with a reference energyin its velocity, a change in the intensity ratio of electrical field andmagnetic field causes the exerted force to change, resulting in thetrajectory being displaced.

This displacement is larger in the x direction that is away from theoptical axis, but little affects the y direction extending towards thecenter of the quadrupole electrical potential. When the trajectorypasses through the electrostatic quadrupole element 83, this relationbetween x and y is reversed. That is, by changing the ratio of energyintensity between the electrostatic quadrupole element 92 and magneticquadrupole element 95 and the electrostatic quadrupole element 93 andmagnetic quadrupole element 96, it is possible to change the trajectoryof only a charged particle whose incident energy has been changed in thex and y directions independently. Taking advantage of this, in theaberration corrector 5 in advance, chromatic aberration is corrected byshifting outward the trajectory of a charged particle with higher energyand shifting inward the trajectory of a charged particle with lowerenergy, by the amount of correction of the chromatic aberration of theentire system including an objective lens. Spherical aberration iscorrected by four stages of electrostatic octupole elements 97, 98, 99.100. The electrostatic octupole element acts on a charged particle witha force varying with the third power of the off-axis distance, andcorrects the spherical aberration (aperture aberration) in the xdirection at second stage where a line crossover is formed, and in the ydirection at third stage, and at first and fourth stages, corrects thespherical aberration (aperture aberration) in 45 degree direction.

The aberration corrector 5 is integral with the magnetic lens 3 and themagnetic lens forms a magnetic path with a metal having highpermeability such as mu-metal, while the aberration corrector 5 has fourstages of multi-polar element in its casing made of a non-magneticmetal, and overlaps four stages of quadrupole electrical potentials,four stages of octupole electrical potentials, a quadrupole magneticpotential each at second and third stages. Therefore, the multi-polarelements at second and third stages (for example, a quadrupole potentialand an octupole potential are produced by a twelve pole element andoverlapped) double as the magnetic pole and electrical pole, and areformed of a metal with high permeability.

A coil 501 for generating magnetic field to provide a magnetic field toa magnetic field polar element lens in the aberration corrector isdisplaced either within the casing of the aberration corrector 5 oroutside of a vacuum chamber 50. When displaced within the casing of theaberration corrector 5, it is desirable to form the coil of a materialwith high-temperature (about 300° C.) resistance such as aceramic-coated copper wire or the like. Since the operating atmosphereof the aberration corrector is ultrahigh vacuum, providing a coolingmeans for the coil around the aberration corrector will result incomplicated configuration of the apparatus. Therefore, by forming thecoil 501 of a material with high-temperature resistance, the apparatuscan be simply constructed. This does not apply to a case where the coilis disposed outside the vacuum chamber.

In order to increase the magnetic field generation efficiency on theoptical axis, an external magnetic path ring (not shown) insulated fromthe polar element is provided outside of each twelve pole element atsecond and third stages. A voltage is applied to each twelve poleelement from a control power supply of the aberration corrector 23 viaan insulating field-through provided within the casing of the aberrationcorrector 5, to feed a electric current to the coil 501. The controlpower supply of the aberration corrector 23 and the magnetic lenscurrent supply are floated at a potential of an extraction power supply22.

Now, the control method for the aberration corrector of this embodimentwill be briefly described. First, the chromatic aberration and sphericalaberration to be canceled out by the aberration corrector 5 can beexpressed by the expressions:

Ccobj+(Mobj)²Cccond+(McondMobj)²Ccgun-corr(V₀/V₁)^(3/2)  (3)

Csobj+(Mobj)⁴Cscond+(McondMobj)⁴Csgun-corr(V₀/V₁)^(3/2)  (4)

where Ccgun-corr is a chromatic coefficient for the magnetic lens 3 andaberration corrector 5, Csgun-corr a spherical aberration coefficient,Cccond a chromatic aberration coefficient for the first and secondcondenser lens 9, 10, Csobj a spherical aberration coefficient, Mobj amagnification of the objective lens, V₀ an acceleration voltage, and V₁an extraction voltage. The aberration corrector 5 adjusts the Ccgun-corrand Csgun-corr such that each of the above expressions (3) and (4)becomes zero.

This adjustment is made by the operator by calculating the initialvalues of an current and voltage to be applied, by the computer, to themulti-polar elements of the aberration corrector from the values of anextraction voltage, and observing the SEM image based on that settings.Since the aberration corrector 5 generates reverse aberrations of theCcobj and Csobj, the correction effect increases as the Mcond or Mobj,and V₀/V₁ increase. However, it should be noted that largermagnification allows aberration correction but a small spot may not beobtained.

The bottom of the casing of the aberration corrector 5 is formed ofelectrode materials, and a Butler type electrostatic lens 6 is formed ofa lower electrode of the Butler lens disposed opposite to the bottom ofthe casing (referred to as an upper electrode of the Butler lens, forconvenience). The upper and lower electrodes of the Butler lens each hasan aperture for passing an electron beam, and around the aperture isformed a taper so that the inner diameter of the aperture decreases fromthe center of the Butler lens towards the outside. At this time,mirror-finishing the tapered face will have an effect of preventingelectric discharge.

The Butler type electrostatic lens is formed by applying voltage V₀across upper and lower electrodes of the Butler type electrostatic lensfrom a high voltage power supply. Since the intensity of this lens canbe controlled by the value of V₀/V₁, and determines the virtual sourceposition, when the operator selects observation conditions (accelerationvoltage, magnification, probe current, etc.) on an operation console,the computer 40 reads the values of V₀ and V₁, which have beendetermined based on simulations and/or experiments and stored in itsmemory, in an electro-optic system optimally satisfying the observationconditions, and outputs the values to the high voltage power supply 20and the suppressor power supply 21. A valve 8 is disposed under theButler type electrostatic lens 6, and maintained at ultra high vacuumabove the valve in the vacuum chamber 50, to form an electron gun (avacuum discharge system is not shown).

An electron accelerated by acceleration voltage V₀, when emitted fromthe electron gun, forms a crossover by a first condenser lens 9 betweenit and a second condenser lens 10, and also forms a crossover by secondcondenser lens 10 around a beam blanker 11, and is incident on theobjective lens 16. An upper magnetic pole 15 is insulated from theobjective lens 16, and can be incident on the objective lens 16 byfurther accelerating the electron with an acceleration electric fieldgenerated by a boosting voltage power supply 31. A negative voltage isapplied to a specimen 17 from a retarding voltage power supply 33, andconsequently a deceleration electric field is generated on the specimen,and the electron is decelerated to be incident on the specimen. Theelectron focused on the specimen surface is scanned by a scanning coil,and the generated secondary electrons are pulled upward of the specimenby retarding and boosting electric fields, deflected by an E×B beamdeflector 13, is incident on a reflection plate 34, and producestertiary electrons which are detected by a secondary electron detector.

By performing a luminance modulation with this detected signal insynchronous with the scanning, an image of the specimen surface isformed on a monitor 41. For a large disc-shaped specimen like asemiconductor wafer, the specimen 17 is fixed on a specimen stage 19with an insulator sandwiched in between. To change a specimen, when apreparation chamber 53 is sufficiently evacuated with the specimen beinginside it, a gate valve 51 is opened, and the specimen is carried to thespecimen stage 19 by a specimen carrier 52. Thus, if the presentinvention is applied to the SEM, an electron with low energy beforeacceleration undergoes aberration correction at low voltages ofmulti-polar electrodes and then is accelerated, and therefore it ispossible to obtain a beam that has undergone aberration correction at anacceleration voltage of, for example, 10 kV or more, and thereby toexpand the application of the aberration corrector that was limited tolow acceleration regions.

It is possible to apply the present invention to a semiconductor waferappearance inspection apparatuses and wiring pattern measurementapparatuses, by adding various image analyzing apparatuses and signalanalyzing means to the scanning electron microscope according to thisembodiment.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 2 shows an example application of the present invention to thescanning transmission electron microscope (STEM).

The electron gun section has the same configuration as in the firstembodiment, in which an acceleration tube 61 is disposed under theButler type electrostatic lens 6, and an electron is accelerated by ahigh voltage power supply 20. Under the acceleration tube 61 is provideda space called an electron gun chamber (not shown), where the electrongun section is evacuated up to ultra high vacuum by an ion pump or thelike, to separate from the low vacuum side by means of the valve 8. Theaccelerated electron beam leaves the acceleration tube, is spread at anappropriate angle by the condenser lens 9 and 10, and then focused onthe specimen 17 by the objective lens 16.

This focused beam is scanned on the specimen 17 by the scanning coil 14.The large angle spread beam of the beam that has been transmittedthrough the specimen and spread is detected by an annular detector 65,and then a dark field image is displayed on the monitor 41, by applyingluminance modulation with this detected signal in synchronous with thescanning. The on-axis beam is detected by an axial detector 67 to form abright field image. The main aberrations to be corrected are sphericalaberration and chromatic aberration of the objective lens 16, andspherical aberration and chromatic aberration are corrected by making acorrection equivalent to expression (4), on the beam that is not yetaccelerated at a high voltage by the aberration corrector 5. The processof the correction can be monitored with a Ronchigram, and can beadjusted.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to realize ahigh-resolution STEM wherein the irradiation spot diameter is small, bycorrecting not only spherical aberration but also chromatic aberrationwith a compact electron gun.

Third Embodiment

For Third Embodiment, an example application to the electron gun isdescribed. FIG. 3 shows an example configuration of an electron gun ofthis embodiment. In the electron gun of First Embodiment, if extractionvoltage V₁ and acceleration voltage V₁ are determined, the intensity ofthe Butler type electrostatic lens 6 is determined. In order to providemore likelihood to electro-optic systems, even when the extractionvoltage V₁ and acceleration voltage V₀ are determined, it is possible tocontrol the intensity of the electrostatic lens, by inserting anelectrode 70 to which a midpoint potential is given, on the lowerelectrode 7 of the Butler type electrostatic lens via an insulating tube601 to form a 3-plate electrode configuration, as shown in FIG. 3.Particularly, V₀ can be used more widely on the deceleration side,making it possible to control the positions of the object point andimage point by the magnetic lens 3 and midpoint potential V₂respectively. Further, more accurate axis arraignment with a subsequentelectro-optic system can be achieved by providing the gun beam deflector72.

It is more preferable to couple the entire electron gun to the chamberthereunder via an O-ring by utilizing vacuum, and provide a mechanicalaxial arraignment mechanism capable of finely moving in the horizontaldirection on the O-ring. Since a high voltage is exposed above theinsulating tube 601 in this structure, an insulator housing 55 iscovered that has an insulating material attached inside, and is made tobe at ground potential outside. It is more effective to have such astructure that allows filling the insulation gas such as SF₆ within thehousing 55. Thus, if the aberration corrector is incorporated in theelectron gun, it is possible to incorporate an aberration correctionfunction without changing the design of the chamber, by replacing theelectron gun of an existing apparatus with an electron gun of thepresent invention.

Fourth Embodiment

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the electron gun according to thepresent invention.

In this embodiment, a chamber 801 is provided between the magnetic lens3 and aberration corrector 5 so that a valve 8 can be attached. Acompact ion pump is provided on the magnetic lens 3 side for ultra-highdegree of evacuation. The coils for the magnetic quadrupole element atsecond and third stages of the aberration corrector 5 are disposedoutside the vacuum. Mu-metal rings 502 and 503 form each magnetic poleand magnetic path at second and third stages respectively, but areelectrically insulated from each magnetic pole. This structure has anadvantage that the electron source can be replaced with a vacuum on theaberration corrector side being maintained.

Fifth Embodiment

FIG. 5 shows still another embodiment of an electron gun according tothe present invention.

In this embodiment, the Butler type electrostatic lens 6 is disposedbetween the magnetic lens 3 and aberration corrector 5. By doing likethis, it is possible to form a virtual source just above the Butler typeelectrostatic lens 6 with the magnetic lens 3, and thereby to providemore current. This allows suppressing the spherical aberration of theButler type electrostatic lens 6, thus reducing the multi-polar elementvoltages and currents of the aberration corrector for aberrationcorrection.

Sixth Embodiment

FIG. 6 shows an example of application of the present invention to theconvergent ion beam apparatus (FIB).

This embodiment is to correct an increase in probe diameter due tospherical aberration on the high probe current side by means of anelectrostatic quadrupole element and an electrostatic octupole element,to provide an FIB suitable for high-speed precision processing. When anegative voltage is applied across the ion source 101 and extractionelectrode 103 from the extraction power supply, a positive ion isextracted into an electric field. The suppressor electrode is providednear the ion source 101, and ion discharge is suppressed by applying apositive voltage to the ion source 101. The condenser lens 109 is formedof the extraction electrode 103, the electrode 108, and the top of thecasing of the aberration corrector 5. An ion beam is accelerated by theelectrode 108 and a voltage is applied by the power supply 104, so thatthe voltage becomes almost the same as the extraction voltage in theaberration corrector 5, and thereby the condition is set such that anapproximately parallel ion beam is incident on the aberration corrector5.

Four stages of multi-polar elements are disposed in the aberrationcorrector 5, and overlaps each four stages of quadrupole electricalelement potentials and octupole element electrical potentials. To thesemulti-polar elements are supplied voltages from the control power supplyof the aberration corrector. This control voltage 23 operates byfloating with an electrical potential provided from the power supply104. The spherical aberration method is the same as described above.After exiting the aberration corrector 5, the amount of current to theion beam is limited by the aperture 105 and the beam is focused on thespecimen 17 by the objective lens 116. The beam is scanned on thespecimen surface with the electrostatic deflector 114 and beam blanker11. It is possible to input a predetermined scanning region shape to thecomputer 40 and perform a hole processing on the specimen in a desiredshape. After the processing, secondary electrons generated by scanning awide region with a low current beam are detected by the secondaryelectron detector 12 to observe the shape of the hole as an SIM(Scanning Ion Microscope) image.

In an FIB processing apparatus of this embodiment, there is no chromaticaberration due to magnetic field, and a chromatic aberration is causedby the aberration corrector 5, and as a result chromatic aberrationsincrease for the entire system. Accordingly, this is particularlyeffective in a high probe current range (probe current 20 nA or more)where the beam probe diameter is increasing mainly due to sphericalaberration. Since it is possible to perform an aberration correction onthe beam at an approximately extraction potential, and control thevirtual source position of the aberration corrector 5 with the action ofthe condenser lens 109, it is possible to provide an aberrationcorrection FIB apparatus at lower control power supply voltages and on afeasible scale.

The present invention may be used for scanning electron microscopes,semiconductor inspection apparatus, scanning transmission electronmicroscopes, convergent ion beam apparatus, and the like.

1. A charged particle beam apparatus which irradiates a specimen with acharged particle beam, comprising: a charged particle beam source whichgenerates the charged particle beam; a first electrode which extractsthe charged particle beam form the charged particle beam source; anaberration corrector which adds a reverse-aberration correction to thecharged particle beam extracted by the first electrode; a secondelectrode, disposed between the first electrode and an objective lens,which accelerated the charged particle beam to which thereverse-aberration correction has been added; and a charged particleoptical system which directs the accelerated charged particle beam tothe specimen.